tailed to appear. Chassenee sueeesstulK argued; (i) that his elients were spread o\er a wide area and one sunnnons was insufficient; (2) the sununons was addressed onl\’ to "some rats," hut should ha\e been addressed to all. d'he court ordered that a second summons addressed to all the rats he read fromthe pulpit of all the local parish churches, d'he rats again failed to appear, and Clhassenee again succcessftdlv pleaded that his clients were widely dispersed and needed more time to make preparations for their )ournev. After a further summons nor heeded h\’ the rats, Cdiassenee once again successful1\’ argued that the rats were entitled to fair treatment under the law: a person summoned to a place where he cannot appear in safety ma\' lawfully refuse to appear; the rats were \ erv’ unpopular in the district, wandd ha\e to face their natural enemies, the cats, who, moreo\ er, belonged to the plaintiffs, d'he court adiourned sine die on the issue of timing, and judgment for the rats was granted by default. The sophistication of the proceedings and the requirement of due process should he emphasized: we are not dealiiig here with what might he termed a "primitit e mentalit}." The people of Autun were faced w ith a crisis. No doubt, all sorts of other measures to deal w ith it had been tried, in \ am. No doubt, during all these legal proceedings the pecq'ile of Autun were killing as man\’ rats as the\' could get hold of Vet the legal proceedings dealt \ er\’ seriousK with issues of due process, fhe trial, howe\ er instituted, was to he seen as a common endeayor. 'hhe cH)mmunity as a whole would he iinoh ed. \\ hatet er the technicalities of the pleadings, the plaintiff was in effect the comnumit\'. hhe injured indix iduals were united in a single process against the common enemy. Something had to he done. Recourse was had to law as a last resort. W’e should not see here infinite faith that a conxaction of the rats 4‘ 47 See, above all, Evans, Criminal Prosecution, pp. i8ff.; cf. Ewald, 'Comparative Jurisprudence (1),' pp. i898ff. 144
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